A 11-man CH and FC team pulled off a stunning victory over a gallant Air Force SC side by 22 points (3 tries, 2 conversions, 1 penalty) to 15 (2 tries, 1 conversion, 1 penalty) in an Inter-Club League rugby match at the Racecourse ground yesterday.
It was the Airmen who held the upper hand in the first half to take a 12-5 lead through two tries and a conversion. Both tries were scored by the individual brilliance of winger Dharshana Dabare who raced across the CH line.
One of these tries was converted by Gayantha Iddamalgoda.
CH managed to score a try in the final five minutes of the first half when a sequence of forward moves saw Sugath Nanayakkara barge through for an unconverted try.
The second half saw CH produce some energetic play through their renowned players like Sudam Sooriyaarachchi, Samuel, Sudarshana Muthuthanthri, Shehan Dias and Omalka Gunaratne. Even their back division players like Reeza Rafaideen, Hirantha Perera, Janidu Dilshan and full back Avantha Lee performed prominently.
CH scored as early as in the sixth minute of the second half when they won a five-metre scrum and Gunaratne forced his way over the line.
Fly half and captain Rohitha Rajapaksa succeeded with the conversion this time.
CH surged ahead in the tenth minute when a kick ahead by Air Force saw full back Lee collect and breeze through a few
gaps before passing out to Hirantha Perera who dashed to score under the posts.
Rajapaksa converted as CH led 19-12.
Thereafter play switched ends frequently but the Airmen were the unfortunate team as they lost possession through poor handling and knock-ons.
CH added more points when the Airmen were penalised for not retreating ten metres. Rajapaksa converted the penalty successfully.
The Airmen also got a similar opportunity to add three more points through a penalty converted by Iddamalgoda to close the gap to 22-15.
Buoyed by this, the Airmen made some daring moves but the CH players indulged in unwarranted play.
Shehan Dias was the first to be shown the yellow card followed by Lee yellow card for knocking down an Air Force player who kicked ahead and gave chase.
Minutes later Muthuthanthri was also shown the yellow card followed by Omalka Gunaratne. At this point CH were reduced to just 11 players in the last 10 minutes of play but the Airmen failed to capitalise.
Navin Alexander refereed.